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Why did God Harden Pharaoh’s Heart?

October 18, 2003

From the beginning God had a plan and a purpose for all things, and he chose the Israelites as his people. During a certain period the Israelites had become slaves after a new Pharaoh came into power in Egypt. God spoke through Moses to Pharaoh, and made it clear to him that the Israelites were the Lord’s people. God was ready to take his people out of slavery, and he would accomplish his plan through Moses. God then told Moses that he would harden Pharaoh’s heart, and Pharaoh would not listen to Moses. God had a purpose and a plan for this. He did not want Pharaoh to just let the Israelites go, he wanted all of the Egyptians and all of the Israelites to know that he was God. God tells Moses that when he lays his hand on Egypt and brings his mighty judgment, all the Egyptians will know that he is God. So Moses went and did as the Lord commanded and God performed many miracles in front of Pharaoh and yet Pharaoh’s heart was hard just as God said. God continued to harden Pharaoh’s heart because God wanted the glory for his own name. He wanted everyone, not just the Israelites, and Egyptians, but God wanted everyone who saw and heard what had happened to know that he is God.

God reveals his plan and purpose for hardening Pharaoh’s heart throughout all the plagues. For example, before Moses turns the water into Blood, God says “By this you will know that I am the Lord” (Exodus 7:17). When Pharaoh asked Moses to pray to God so that the plague of frogs would leave, Moses replied, “It will be as you say, so that you may know there is no one like the Lord our God” (Exodus 8:10). When God caused the plague of Gnats, Pharaoh’s magicians could not and they recognized that this was God, when they said, “This is the finger of God” (Exodus 8:19). After some of the plagues, some Egyptians began to recognize God, and some of Pharaoh’s officials feared God and put their animals under shelter before the Plague of Hail. God then reveals his purpose and plan once again when he says to Moses, “Go to Pharaoh, for I have hardened his heart and the hearts of his officials so that I may perform these miraculous signs of mine among them that you may tell your children and grandchildren how I dealt harshly with the Egyptians and how I performed my signs among them and that you may know that I am the Lord (Exodus 10:1-2).”

Even after Pharaoh finally let the Israelites go, he changed his mind once again and chased after them, and this is where God demonstrates his final act of judgment on the Israelites. As Moses stretched out his hand over the red sea and the waters parted, the Israelites crossed and God hardened the Egyptians hearts once again, and once again God reveals his plan and purpose, when he says, “I will harden the hearts of the Egyptians so that they will go in after them and I will gain glory through Pharaoh and all his army, through his chariots and his horsemen. The Egyptians will know that I am the Lord when I gain glory through Pharaoh…” (Exodus 14:17-18). As we can see at the end of it all, God completed his purpose, “And when the Israelites saw the great power the Lord displayed against the Egyptians, the people feared the Lord and put their trust in him and in Moses his servant” (Exodus 14:31).

God wanted the Egyptians to realize he was God, and God demonstrated that to them through all the plagues. Had He only done one plague and Pharaoh let the Israelites go then God’s great glory and power would not have been recognized by the Egyptians, and his purpose would not have been fulfilled. But God revealed his complete and total authority to the Egyptians by changing the river to blood, sending frogs, gnats, and flies, killing the livestock, hail, locusts, darkness, killing the firstborn, and ultimately destroying Pharaoh and the entire Egyptian army.

Although the Egyptians worshiped many different gods, and had a god for just about everything, the one true God showed himself to be more powerful than any of the Egyptian gods. To the Egyptians when God changes the river to blood, he shows his power over their god of the river. The Egyptians had considered frogs to be gods. During the plauge of frogs they were stepping on, sleeping with, and being surrounded by their own gods! Then when they all died they had to smell the stench of their decaying piles of egyption god...

The God of the Hebrews continued to harden Pharaoh’s heart, so he could continue to show his power and authority over all of Egypt through his signs and wonders, so that the Egyptians would give him the glory as well as the Israelites. God also revealed himself to the Israelites as the one and only true God through all the plagues and through protecting them from the Egyptian army. So above all Gods purpose and plan to glorify his own name and reveal himself to all came about through the hardening of the heart of Pharaoh.

Comments

Posted by: Peggy
January 4, 2005 05:57 PM

Do you know what god or dieity the frog represented?It's name and why it was worshipped,what it represented?

Posted by: koral
May 5, 2005 11:38 AM

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